Keio University: Suppression of ALS progression with ropinirole: Drug discovery with iPS cells

Keio University: Suppression of ALS progression with ropinirole: Drug discovery with iPS cells

Therapeutic agent for intractable disease “ALS”:

There is no radical cure for “ALS, an intractable disease that gradually weakens muscles.”

Keio University Research Group:

“We were able to slow the progression of ALS with Parkinson’s disease drugs,” a research group at Keio University announced.

Drug discovery using iPS cells:

According to the research group, “It is the first time in the world to identify a drug that is more effective than existing drugs in drug discovery using iPS cells.”

Research group of Professor Hideyuki Okano et al .:

A clinical trial was conducted on “20 patients who developed ALS within 5 years”.

Ropinirole Hydrochloride Therapeutic Agents:

Ropinirole hydrochloride, a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, was administered to ALS patients for 1 year.

Compared to patients who drank half a year later, “I was able to delay the progression of the disease by about 7 months.”

The decrease in muscle strength and activity is suppressed,
Symptomatism such as being unable to walk was also suppressed.
Results of this clinical trial:

In this clinical trial

Not only patients with familial ALS
In 70% of the majority of sporadic patients with ALS,
It has been shown to be effective.
Professor Okano and others

Based on iPS cells of ALS patients
Reproduce the patient’s condition in a test tube,
We investigated the therapeutic effect of 1200 existing drugs.
Identifying ropinirole hydrochloride:

As a result, we found that “ropinirole hydrochloride may also work for ALS.”

Through animal experiments, we have confirmed the effect in humans.

Nippon Television Network (NNN) -Yahoo! News

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/98b149292e132ea0046e2a9682e37a860f2dcb52

Ropinirole hydrochloride may attenuate the disease progression of ALS

Keio University

May 20, 2021

Keio University Hospital

Keio University School of Medicine K Pharma, Inc. In a new clinical trial (ROPALS trial), researchers from Keio University

have found a novel drug to be safe and effective for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Tokyo, Japan

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
is a deadly neurodegenerative disease with no known treatment.

In a new randomized clinical Phase I/IIa trial, researchers from Keio University

treated ALS patients with ropinirole, a drug often used to treat Parkinson’s disease.

After a period of 1 year,
they found the drug to be safe and, most importantly, to have a significant effect in slowing the progression of the disease and reducing patients’ symptoms.

For further information,
please refer to the following PDF file.

Ropinirole hydrochloride may attenuate the disease progression of ALS Keio University

https://www.keio.ac.jp/en/press-releases/2021/May/20/49-80091/